Key facts: CGM was founded in 2016. Creators: Alex Makarov and Anna Soboleva. Format: international online education platform. Core areas: DaVinci Resolve, color grading, editing, Fusion/VFX, cinematography, animation, and music production.
Overview
COLOR GRADING MASTER (CGM) is an international online education platform for professionals in film, video production, color grading, editing, visual effects, and music production.
The platform was founded in 2016 by Ukrainian director and visual artist Alex Makarov together with Anna Soboleva and a team of professionals from the film and television industry.
CGM was built from real production experience. Its founders aimed to create an educational system that teaches not only theory, but also practical workflows used in commercial projects, music videos, films, and television content.
Mission
CGM’s mission is to give students access to professional education in post-production and visual storytelling by combining artistic thinking, technical knowledge, and industry-level standards.
The platform focuses on practical learning. Students work with real production materials, study professional pipeline logic, and learn how visual decisions are made from the perspective of a director, editor, colorist, and VFX artist.
History and Development
CGM’s first product was a foundational course in video color grading in DaVinci Resolve. The course took more than two years to develop: the original educational material included more than 800 pages of text and was transformed into 60 structured video lessons.
After publication, the course received a strong commercial response and became the foundation for the platform’s growth. CGM expanded its catalog with advanced programs in color grading, video editing, visual effects in Fusion, cinematography, animation, and music production.
At the same time, CGM developed an offline educational direction, organizing meetings, masterclasses, and professional events for industry specialists in cities including Kyiv, Los Angeles, New York, and Almaty.
CGM Educational Programs
- Foundational course in video color grading in DaVinci Resolve.
- Advanced Color Grading Class — an advanced color grading program with mentorship and real project materials.
- Advanced Editing Class — a professional video editing and editing dramaturgy program.
- Visual effects course in Fusion — one of the first Russian-language VFX programs inside DaVinci Resolve Fusion.
- Courses in cinematography, animation, and music production.
- Modern Music Video Editing — a specialized program focused on editing commercial music videos.
Content Protection and Security
After one of the courses was illegally copied and distributed online, the CGM team significantly strengthened its content protection system.
In later programs, each lesson was marked with the student’s personal data, helping protect the educational materials, reduce piracy risks, and preserve the commercial sustainability of the project.
Modern Music Video Editing Course
In 2021, Alex Makarov initiated the creation of a specialized course dedicated to modern editing for commercial music videos.
To develop the program, CGM produced a full-scale music video with Ukrainian artist Vasilina Zozulya. The production footage became the foundation of the course, allowing students to study the editing process through a real commercial case.
After release, the music video reached more than 1,000,000 views on YouTube in less than one month and was accepted for rotation on music television channels, including M1 and M2.
Based on this project, CGM created a comprehensive program covering music video editing, dramaturgy, color grading, visual effects, and the visual structure of commercial video content.